Pareene

We were sent this tear-jerking tale of the going-away party for a New York Times employee who got the best gift ever. "The story: Merrill Perlman, the director of copy desks at The Times, who has 'chosen' to leave the paper (read: got pushed out) received a send-off today in the same spot where the Pulitzers were given out earlier this year. (This, after the farewell had originally been scheduled for the Page One conference room - never mind that the copy editors constitute the biggest staff in the New York office.)" Read on!

So anyway, the first gift presented – and the best – was scavenged from the 43rd Street building by Janet Higbie, an editor on the Foreign desk: a hardbound copy of The New York Times style manual, in PRISTINE condition, Janet emphasized. As in, NEVER used. So shiny. So pretty. And the name inscribed on the inside? (Drumroll…)

Jayson Blair.

Hah. That would explain so, so much. He never even read the part about how you're not supposed to lie and plagiarize! To be fair, it's way after the bit about the Oxford Comma, which is where most readers give up.